Poll: Which rack s would you use and why?

I agree with Mr. Lavigne once again :) I do like his idea of wall mounting the tt and then getting what ever rack you want for your other gear- Sistrum, grand prix, rix rax or zoethecus. As you may or may not know my friend Don got his Rix Rax Hoodoo the other day and I put it together for him(he isn't very good at that sort of thing), it is nice in fact very nice- but not worth the money- IMO. Its construction is high quality(grinded and smoothed welds) but the standard finish leaves a little to be desired(on the metal frame the finish looks like the black crinkle that you would get on a pair of wall brackets from home depot for $3.99) the wood he decided to go with is very nice maple, I can find no complaint in it- though it is nothing super special. The real pain was filling the freaking thing with sand! what a pain in the a$$! All of my complaints and critisism aside it is a breath taking piece, its presence in a room is second to none. As soon as I get pictures I will post them. Prior he had a sistrum SP-5 with top shelf(for his tt, which also had a suspension- which is the reason he got rid of the rack), his system always sounded good on sistrum I am looking forward to listening to the Rix Rax, though I am not overly impressed with the technology employed with it, very basic shelves screwed to little tabs welded to a metal frame. A friend of mine does metal working and I was telling him about it and he thinks he can make the metal frame for under $500, I will probably take him up on that! The look alone is enough to make one wet himself- if you know Don you know this rack is not him ;) but its still cool. I have heard good things about the grand prix though I have no experience with them and don't care for the lack of rear support, it doesn't mean they don't work well. I am sure Mike can tell you more about the Zoethecus then I. This is a tough choice, for me I am going to have my friend make me a custom stand to my specs(similar to a Hoodoo), though I will probably use carbon fiber BDR shelves, higher quality paint, and brass cones instead of aluminum. I would rather have the look of that beast and sacrafice a little performance- what the hell am I saying compromise sound for aesthetix(not a typo:o) I do like the technology in the Sistrum racks but I just don't care for the way they look(and I have an audio aero capitole so you know I am not too particular with how ugly a unit is;) Though the sistrum will not work with your tt.

Frank I am not envious of you for having to make such a decision! Good luck

a question for Twl; do you think a 90 pound tt will work on a light, rigid rack?.....this is not a rehtorical question. in my mind, a light to medium weight tt would be ideal on a light-weight rigid rack but a very heavy tt.....especially one that is fairly wide.....needs some mass for stability. i know that a heavy rack will tend to pass resonance more than a light rack but what about stability regarding foot-falls and such.....i agree regarding the height issue.....the lower the better for the tt.

the other important issue here is the floor. any rack performance is really a combination of rack design and floor construction. Frank, what is the design of your floor? does it move around now? can it be braced?

Mike, Tim and TWL, thanks again as always for your fine input. I actually had told Jtinn that I had narrowed my search to exactly the 4 you guys mention - Grand Prix, Sistrum, Zoethecus and Rix Rax (I think Polycrystal my be out of business?). Although JTinn recommended Arcici. I cannot, as you guys noted, use it with the suspended SME.

My floor is a concrete slab so footfalls are not a problem. I am limited in where in the room I can place the racks. My front wall (where the speakers are closest to) is windowed so I cannot mount a turntnable stand there so a wall mount would have to be on the right side wall.

Hopefully, I will have many more options when I build my dedicated room (which I am hoping to do this summer). I was also thinking of just buying a few stackable Lovan shelves until then.

Hmmm, I'm using a arcici with my SME 20/2 on the 2nd floor of my house. Sounds like I need to move it. I'm wondering how much of a sonic improvement by moving the TT to a separate rigid rack versus the Arcici top shelf. Is this really that big of a deal? (I know...most of this hobby usually is)

Mike, yes I think a lightweight rigid stand for the TT would be the best bet. Of course, it needs to be strong enough for this TT. When I said light and rigid, I didn't mean to imply "flimsy". This has to do with the vibrational modes in the stand, and the way they interact with the TT suspension. He could try both heavy and light if he wants, but my past experience with suspended TTs is that they always sound better with a light rigid stand. A well made, low stand with good rigidity and light weight would be the ticket, in my opinion.